Sunday, August 01, 2010

inspiration: Elegance

Of all the books on the shelves at the studio (pattern-making, sewing reference, grading techniques, etc.), this is the book I refer to most frequently. It's surprising, actually, since I don't think it's directly inspired anything I've designed. But I still come back to it regularly and will probably continue to refer to it over time.

The Seeberger brothers were among the world's very first fashion photographers, working from the early 1900's into the 1970's. They primarily photographed wealthy aristocrats at their places of leisure: the racecourse, beaches, and resorts. The photographs in this book were taken between 1909 and 1939, which was a spectacularly elegant era for fashion. Or at least I think so.

The personalities in the photos are almost as interesting as the fashions, and the photographs are exquisite. I finally dragged myself away from staring at the photos the other day and started reading the text, which is equally fascinating. But I love fashion history, so that's probably no great surprise.

2 comments:

This looks like a fantastic book. Thanks for the inspiration for all of us, Liesl!

P.S. Do you know of a good museum for fashion/textiles in NYC? I feel like there isn't one but know that there must be, somewhere. I really want to see the exhibit at the Frist right now but can't get to Nashville and think that surely there's something at least comparable in NYC.

about disdressed

Thanks for dropping by! I'm Liesl Gibson, designer of the Oliver + S and Lisette sewing patterns and fabric collections. This is where I blather on about whatever I'm interested in at the moment, whenever I have a little time to do so.